What Did We Do Wrong?
by WelshCanuck
Summary: On the day she was burned at the stake, Phoebe is wondering what they did wrong to change the future and in the end not have Prue in thier lives.


Disclaimer: The Charmed Characters are the property of Aaron Spelling and Constance Burge. I just borrow them for your enjoyment and my writing addiction.

Ok this little tale just popped into my head after I read on a Charmed board about February 25, 2009. So this is what she came up with.. I think

February 25, 2009

Phoebe Halliwell sat at her desk and looked at the picture of her family. She still couldn't believe it at times. There she was sitting on the lap, in the arms of the man she loved with the tiny bundle they had created from that love.

She recalled exactly when the photo had been taken, just over two years ago. Not long after she had got out of the hospital after giving birth. She had wanted to just go home but Coop had convinced her to go by the Manor before going home as it would be easier to see everyone there then at the loft.

After the dinner the three of them were sitting on the couch in the living room and Piper had snapped the photo. The first family one she had said.

The picture reminded her of the reason she was stopping in at the Manor on her way home.

She got up from her chair and made her way around her desk. Getting her jacket, she slipped it on before picking up her purse and started for home. As she was leaving her office her eyes caught one other picture on her desk; A picture that drew her back to another past. She held its faces in her eyes a few more minutes before turning out the lights and heading through the main office of the Mirror.

Piper Halliwell stirred the pot on the stove and took a small taste of the sauce she was making for dinner. She felt the arms snake around her waist and the soft lips kiss her neck.

"Nearly done?"

"Almost. Boys?"

"Upstairs playing." He rested his hand on his wife's stomach. Waiting just long enough till he felt what he was hoping for. "She kicked."

Piper turned in Leo's arms. "What makes you think it's a she. We all thought Wyatt was a she."

"Just a feeling. I mean you were meant to have a little girl." He leaned down and placed a kiss ion her lips.

"Ok enough you two get a room." Phoebe said as she walked in through the back door.

"Hey sis. What bring you by?" Piper asked as she leaned back against Leo.

"What? Sister can't stop in now and then?" Phoebe asked in her defence as she took her jacket off and placed her purse on the table.

Piper didn't say anything she just held her gaze to her sister. Something was up she could tell.

Leo could sense that there was something going on with Phoebe and that she wanted to talk to Piper about. "I'll go check on the boys." He gave Piper a quick kiss and Phoebe an understanding smile, before leaving.

"So. What's going on?" Piper asked again as she sat down at the kitchen table.

"Never could fool you could I." Phoebe replied as she sat at the end of the table next to her sister.

Piper didn't say anything she just waited for Phoebe to talk to her.

Phoebes mind drifted back to the photo on her desk. Not of her family but the other one she saw just as she left. "Do you ever wonder where it all changed? Where it was we made that one mistake and it changed everything?"

Piper looked at her sister's face trying to understand her, "Unless you're more specific sweetie I can't help you answer that." Piper reached over and took Phoebes hand in her, "What mistake did we make?"

Phoebe looked down and twined her fingers with her sisters. "I don't know." She took her free hand and brushed at the tear that was posed to spill down her face, "Do you know what today is?" she asked as he looked into Pipers eyes.

Piper thought a minute as she looked back at her sister. She was running dates through her head but nothing came to mind.

"Think back nearly 10 years ago."

"There was a lot going on 10 years ago Phoebe. We were still learning the craft. Leo and I were trying to find a common ground between our jobs, as they were."

Phoebe got up and went to the kitchen window. "It hasn't been quite 10 years yet but it's close. Remember when I had that vision of my dying?"

"How could I forget. Prue and I were near…" it suddenly came to Piper on what the date was and she suddenly understood what Phoebe meant by what mistake they had made. "Phoebe. We can't change the past. I know we all saw that future but destiny had other plans. The future is never for certain. We know that." She got up and started towards her sister, "We knew that the minute Wyatt was born."

"When Prue died." Phoebe said quietly as now her tears did spill down her cheeks, "I miss her so much sometimes Piper I can't even breathe."

"Oh sweetie." Piper took her distraught sister in her arms and gave her the support she needed just then.

"I was sitting at my desk and all of a sudden it just hit me. I don't know if it was something I saw or it was all of a sudden subconscious that I knew that today I should be burning on a stake." She rested her head on Pipers shoulder. "Where did we make a mistake? She should be here. We saw her here, right now."

Piper didn't know what to say as she held on to Phoebe. She remembered their time in the future. Her and Leo were divorced, she had her little girl. Prue was alive. "Come on." She took Phoebe by the hand and led her from the kitchen and into the living room.

Settling them both on the couch Piper wrapped her arms around her sister trying to come up with an answer they both needed. She too missed Prue and had for the last 7, nearly 8 years.

Phoebe had her head resting on Pipers chest and could hear her heart beat. She had one hand resting on her sisters' pregnant belly getting comfort, if small, from her unborn niece. At least that was what she was hoping for.

"Don't get me wrong Piper. I'm glad that some of that future didn't turn out. I mean I'm alive. You and Leo are happy with your third child on the way. I have Coop."

"We both have Paige." Piper added in, as they both started running down the list of people in their lives.

"Yeah, but I just wonder sometimes what we did somewhere along the line and we changed the fact we don't have Prue. I mean we may have still found Paige. She was afterall looking for us. She hung out at the club all the time. I just…" she stopped herself as more tears came.

Piper ran her fingers gently through her sisters' hair, "I know sweetie. Me too. But you know she is always with us. You, me, and Paige. Even that beautiful little girl you have at home."

Phoebe didn't say anything she knew Piper was right, that Prue was always with her, all of them.

"And if you were burning at the stake right now as we saw. You wouldn't have that little girl. I wouldn't have a beautiful little niece." Piper looked down and smiled at Phoebe. "MAybe we should be asking ourselves, what we did right?"

They sat in silence just taking in each other's love.

"We never figured out who it was that Cal Greene was supposedly killed did we?" Piper asked though not wanting to really know the answer.

"No. It was just a friend apparently. Obviously we either were never friends or when the future was changed, so was that." Phoebe answered not moving from Pipers side.

"Maybe." Piper replied as she still held on to Phoebe.

They had both heard the front door but knew it would be Paige

"Hi guys. What's going on?" Paige asked as she walked into the living room from the foyer.

"Just some sister stuff from the past honey." Piper answered as she shifted on the couch, "Hey you two want to stay for dinner? You know I 'll have to much for Leo, the boys and me."

"How much is to much. Should I call Henry?" Paige asked with a smile

"Coop?" Phoebe said beside her.

Piper looked from Paige to Phoebe, "You two. But yes, give them a call too. Might as well make it a big family gathering." She looked down at Phoebe. "Celebrate life."

Paige looked at Piper confused who had gotten up and started for the kitchen, "Life?"

"Long story sweetie. Come here."

Phoebe pulled Paige down to the couch and leaned in against her, though when she did her world turned black and white.

Paige saw all the familiar signs of her sister getting a vision, "Piper. You better come back here."

Piper walked back into the living room just on time to see Phoebe come out of her premonition. "Phoebs?"

Phoebe looked up at Piper and then to Paige, "It was you."

Paige looked at Phoebe confused and then up to Piper,

"Phoebe?" Piper came around and sat on the coffee table across from her sister

"It was Paige. I saw everything."

Piper was about to say something when a golden light sparkled around the living room before slowly disappearing leaving one person standing there.

"She's right. It was Paige." She turned and looked at Phoebe, "You and Paige had become friends, you actually met at P3 and after being best friends for a few years you were inseparable, you even told her the family secret. It was because of her you stopped dating Cole and it was a few years after that that Cal Greene raped and killed her one night after a party. You were beyond consolable. We tried everything but you wouldn't see it. When he got off you lost it. It was then you killed him with your powers."

"But she's my sister. Our sister." Phoebe said as she looked at the woman before her.

"I know Phoebs. When I died everything changed. She found you and Piper and it changed her destiny as well."

"So you dying saved her life." Piper asked as she looked at Prue.

"In a way yes. In the future we saw, Paige never found us or she did, she just didn't know who we were."

They all sat in silence not really sure what to say.

"I miss you." Phoebe finally said as she looked at Prue.

"I miss you everyday sweetie." She took a step forward and placed her hand on Phoebes stomach, "All of you." She looked at each sister before stepping back, "I have to go. I love you"

"We love you too Prue." Piper said as she felt her tear run down her face.

"Love you." Phoebe replied as she too felt the tear.

Paige gave a weak smile to the sister she never knew before she was gone in the same golden light she had arrived in.

"Now we know." Piper said as she turned towards Phoebe and Paige.

"Yeah. Now we know." Phoebe agreed as she looked down at her stomach and placed both her hands there, "Guys I need to tell you something. That was actually the reasons I came over tonight." She knew Prue had known. That was why she placed her hands on her stomach and said all of you. She looked up to look at both her sisters; "I'm pregnant again."


End file.
